General Lore
'Divinnus and the Daemon' From the void came an entity, formless yet self aware. Realizing that it was alone, the entity felt the need to create, and so it did. The entity created a sphere in the void, forming it from the contents of its mind. Then, the entity felt the need to use that sphere to hold other minds, just like the one it was using, and so it did. The entity put on the sphere several minds, modeled after its own. Then, the entity felt the need to categorize these minds, and so it did. The entity used names to do so, and genders, and changed the minds to make them different, some groups having more developed awareness than others. Deciding that it must classify itself as well, the entity became 'male' and named himself Divinnus. He took the most developed group of minds and called them the Daemon, dividing them into males and females at random, and then he did the same with the other groups of minds, dividing them into genders, and naming them as well. Because the Daemon were the most aware of all of the 'races', they began to think as Divinnus did, naming themselves individually and feeling the need to create. However, unlike Divinnus, the Daemon lacked the power to synthesize the contents of their mind, and instead used the materials Divinnus had set before them to create things. Looking upon the children of his mind, Divinnus smiled, and felt the need to rest, so of course he did. Divinnus regained awareness after time had passed. Not knowing that time was at work, Divinnus was surprised to find that the Daemon had created so much. Social standings, architecture, science, technology, dominance, literature, combat, and even more. Learning from the activity of his creations, Divinnus adopted their language, and even took on a corporeal form, appearing before the Daemon for the first time. The Daemon did not know who or what the being was, and they had lived so long on their own that they rejected the idea of anything else possessing the same abilities as them, for they had come to suppress the other races, growing arrogant as the years passed. Threatened by the being, they refused to believe that he was their creator, and unleashed their creation of combat upon him. However, Divinnus was just as aware as the Daemon, if not more so, and he adapted to combat efficiently, partaking in the activity with ease. He surprised himself with his power, and fought for years with the Daemon. Divinnus did not understand all of their creations, such as emotion, and could not comprehend their hatred for him, so he continued to fight. As was his habit of neglecting time, Divinnus let the combat rage on for far too long, and when he came to his senses he found that the world he had first created was in ruins, burning with the fury and pollution of the Daemons' hatred and the effects of decades of war. Scared that he had destroyed his first creation, Divinnus attempted to hastily repeat his actions, synthesizing more matter on top of the sphere, making it grow ever bigger. When he decided it was big enough, he did not see anymore Daemon, and decided that he should rest once more, so he did. Keeping up with the pattern, ages passed as he rested, but the Daemon did not forget about him. Unlike Divinnus, they were created to be mortal, so the ones that had fought him died off, but they made sure to pass down stories of his cruel tyranny to their descendents, fueling centuries of acidic hatred. They were trapped underneath the new earth, sealed off in an underworld of fire and ashes, but they managed, after years of effort, to dig up into the earth, tunneling out caverns and building forts like the ones in their ruined home. By the time Divinnus awoke, the Daemon were just making their way to the surface at last. Surprised again at their potency, Divinnus readied himself to fight once more, seeing it inevitable. Little did he know, but the Daemon had developed their tools of war far beyond the level of their past struggles. Knowing that Divinnus was adaptable, the Daemon did not hesitate to unleash their new weapons upon their creator. Divinnus, at last, understood, for he had meditated in his rest on the concept of emotion. He understood how the Daemon hated him, and he became sad from this truth. The new experience of emotion almost overcame him, and although the Daemon's weapons wore away at his corporeal form, eventually destroying it, what was more destructive was the depression in his mind. Upset to his limit, Divinnus lashed out in grief, taking back all that he had created in the Daemon. However, he found that a select few of the Daemon, the ones that were attacking him with the ultimate weapons, had also created protection of the same standards, and withstood his wrath as their brethren fell. Finally, Divinnus found that he had experienced enough of the Daemons' rebelliousness, and surrendered to the survivors. He decided that he should die in order to escape his grief, and so he did. 'The Eight Divines and Serathoul' At that point, the remaining Daemon, who only numbered at eight, achieved Divinnus' power of supreme awareness, for he was no longer there to claim it. Seeing that they were alone, the eight Daemon lords decided to create, and so they did. However, the Daemon recognized their actions more than Divinnus had, because they were more experienced in awareness than he had been in the very beginning. They chose to divide the world that he had created rather than make another, but what they did create was life. Each of the eight Daemon lords hand crafted a race to inhabit their domain of the world, which they decided to award with a name, Serathoul. Knowing creativity, their races were unique and adapted to different conditions. Proud of their work, the lords decided that like Divinnus, they had finally earned the right to rest as well, and so they did. But, as they rested, they did not neglect time, or Serathoul, or their races. They kept a careful eye on their creations. When enough time had passed, and the eight races of Serathoul had begun to organize themselves in the same way that the very early Daemon had, the lords recognized the stories of their original race and were delighted to have done what Divinnus had done, only seemingly better, for they had created eight sentient races instead of one. In their delight, they appeared before their races to offer some of their creations from the past. Anticipating the rejection, for the Daemon lords were quite insightful, they had previously safeguarded this in the creation stage of the eight races. So, when they appeared before them, each to their own race, their creations answered in reverence, worshipping their creators as gods. These new gods wanted to firmly establish their image of omnipotence, and made sure not to tell their creations of the one that had come before them, effecively erasing the legacy of Divinnus. Ages passed in harmony between the gods and their races, but as the Daemon lords, who now called themselves 'Divines' became more vain, their races became more power hungry, a repetition of the Daemon that the Divines had not foreseen. Their new vanity blinded them of this, and the races were soon at an all out war with eachother, the Great War, as it was called. Shocked into reality by the violence and destruction, the Divines struggled to find a solution. Determined not to repeat the purge of Divinnus and further the destruction by supporting their races in a fight against eachother, the Divines decided to withdraw themselves to an alternate plane of their creation, inhabited by only themselves, and waited.... 'The Mortal Rulers and The Alliance' Left to their own devices, the eight races eventually worked out a treaty of peace, for they had become increasingly aware, no longer the fawning servants of their gods that they had been at first. They were capable of so much more. Of technological advances, literature, diplomacy, philosophy, and even more. If the Divines had been watching, they would have been pleased, but they had sunken into slumber in their alternate plane. Not only did the treaty put in place The Alliance, an agreement between four domains to work together for the good of their people, but it alo led to the merging of two of those domains, Chai Lou and Akravar, under the Tellimen people, leaving Akravar's indigenous Lunari at the mercy of their neighbors. Chai Lou annexed the tented city of Akravar, turning it into a sort of cultural ghetto where the Lunari could continue to live as they had, with the ony difference being a noticable deprival of power in Chai Lou's favor. Even though they did not sign the treaty, the other four races, the Avians, the Aquians, the Twa'lek and Vvarden, did not wish to fight any longer, and chose to go into seclusion, some more than others. The Vvarden, in particular, were determined not to deal with the other races again, so they dug themselves a new home under the earth in solitude, declaring that they would never again bask in the sunlight of the surface. With the treaty in place, and every race minding their own business, for the most part, civilization was free to continue as it should. The rulers of the races were still tasked with rebuilding their domains, but they saw hope for a bright future ahead.